Developing and validating a trauma-informed care toolkit for internal medicine residents: A patient-centered,...

Trauma is highly prevalent among adult patients, making trauma-informed care (TIC) a critical competency for internal medicine residents. Yet, residents feel inadequately prepared to provide TIC.

To explore perceptions and barriers to TIC among internal medicine residents, patients, and care team members to inform curriculum development that enhances TIC delivery.

We conducted a qualitative study with internal medicine residents, patients, and interdisciplinary care team providers (nurses, social workers, and chaplains) to identify key themes related to TIC. These findings guided the design of a curriculum focused on trauma-informed communication ("toolkit") that is responsive to stakeholder needs. This toolkit was reviewed by 11 TIC experts. To ensure content validity, meaning that the toolkit and each of its eight components were relevant, complete, and feasible and practical, we applied a modified Delphi process. We defined consensus as ≥ 80 % of panelists providing an average rating > 4 (on a 5-point Likert scale) for each toolkit component and the overall toolkit.

Residents expressed a strong need for a structured framework to guide TIC but reported feeling constrained by limited time. Interdisciplinary team members emphasized the importance of more frequent check-ins and ongoing monitoring for patients with trauma histories. Patient participants reaffirmed the value of TIC in supporting their health and wellbeing. These themes informed the development of the Be Trauma I.N.F.O.R.M.E.D. toolkit, which explicitly aligns with Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services' (SAMHSA) TIC principles and the validated trauma-informed care competencies for medical education. We conducted two iterative Delphi rounds until consensus was achieved.

This study demonstrates the feasibility of developing a TIC communications curriculum grounded in multidisciplinary perspectives and validated through expert consensus.

The resulting Be Trauma I.N.F.O.R.M.E.D. toolkit is an evidence-informed framework that equips residents with a structured, systematic approach to delivering TIC in clinical practice.